1. Fatal encephalitis and myocarditis in young domestic geese (Anser anser domesticus) caused by West Nile virus.
- Author
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Swayne DE, Beck JR, Smith CS, Shieh WJ, and Zaki SR
- Subjects
- Animals, Animals, Domestic, Antibodies, Viral analysis, Death, Disease Models, Animal, Geese virology, Immunoenzyme Techniques, Myocarditis immunology, Myocarditis mortality, Myocarditis pathology, New York City epidemiology, Songbirds, West Nile Fever immunology, West Nile Fever mortality, West Nile Fever pathology, West Nile virus isolation & purification, Disease Outbreaks, Myocarditis virology, West Nile Fever virology, West Nile virus physiology
- Abstract
During 1999 and 2000, a disease outbreak of West Nile (WN) virus occurred in humans, horses, and wild and zoological birds in the northeastern USA. In our experiments, WN virus infection of young domestic geese (Anser anser domesticus) caused depression, weight loss, torticollis, opisthotonus, and death with accompanying encephalitis and myocarditis. Based on this experimental study and a field outbreak in Israel, WN virus is a disease threat to young goslings and viremia levels are potentially sufficient to infect mosquitoes and transmit WN virus to other animal species.
- Published
- 2001
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